SoCo Supervisorial Candidates’ Questionnaire
Posted by Dan | Filed under Uncategorized
The Association requested each Supervisorial Candidate (except Michael McClure for which no contact information could be found) to respond to a questionnaire seeking their views regarding the Sonoma County pension crisis. We are posting their responses as we receive them. To view their responses, click on their names below. If the link is inactive, no response has yet been received from that candidate.
First District Third District Fifth District
Mark Bramfitt Tim Smith Ernie Carpenter
Gina Cuclis Shirlee Zane Efren Carrillo
Susan Gorin Veronica Jacobi
John Sawyer
Why Is Brown Silent on Prop 29?
Posted by Dan | Filed under Uncategorized
Are you curious as to why the Governor hasn’t spoken out on Prop 29? Wouldn’t you expect our tax-loving governor to come out in support of a tax on cigarettes? Maybe that $26,000 contribution by Phillip Morris to the Governor’s re-election campaign fund might have something to do with it.
Click here to read the full story.
Union Contract Extensions Cost California Taxpayers Another 9.5%
Posted by Dan | Filed under Uncategorized
Last month we reported that Governor Brown had agreed to one year contract extensions of four state employee union contracts set to expire this summer in the hope that the Governor’s proposed sales and income tax increases would be approved by voters in November thereby making available more money for raises and other benefits (see our April 10 post). It turns out that was only half the story. (more…)
SoCo School Bonds – Are District Trustees Withholding Information from Voters?
Posted by Dan | Filed under Uncategorized
Are Sonoma County School District Trustees hiding from voters information about prior bonds while campaigning for new ones? Five school districts (Healdsburg, Guerneville, Sebastopol, Old Adobe and Wright) are seeking approval of school bonds and a sixth (Rohnert Park-Cotati) is seeking a parcel tax on the June 5 ballot. Yet in reading through the election materials supplied to the County Registrar of Voters Office by these districts, one finds no reference to existing bonds, interest rates or other financing costs, factors voters should know while considering the approval of additional debt. (more…)
School Bond Measures Leave Our Children Holding the Bag
Posted by Dan | Filed under Uncategorized
Contrary to what proponents of school bond measures would have you believe, school bonds simply pass tremendous debt obligations to our children. Bond proponents will tell you that school bond measures benefit the kids. But if we set aside our initial emotional response to that seemingly appealing plea, we will see that in fact the real beneficiaries of these bonds are us – the grown-ups. (more…)
What’s Up at SMART?
Posted by Dan | Filed under Uncategorized
Could it be that SMART is the new role model for pension reform? Hard to believe, I know, but the SMART board approved on April 18th an innovative pension plan expected to cover all but a handful of current employees (more…)